Toothbrush with separate toothpaste and battery compartments

ABSTRACT

The electric toothbrush with separate toothpaste and battery compartments is a device having an electric toothbrush with a removable neck, independently removable rotary brush, and a housing defining a handle. The electric toothbrush has separate toothpaste and battery compartments in the handle. A forward compartment houses a plurality of batteries provided for powering a DC motor disposed in front of the forward compartment. Aft of the battery compartment is a toothpaste compartment having space to store a tube of toothpaste. Each compartment has a separate hinged door with a snap lock for secure compartment closure. The removable neck includes a drive shaft, housing engagement member and gear assembly to provide torque to the rotary brush head when the neck is attached to the handle body. When not in use, the toothbrush is shielded from germs by a brush head cap with pocket clip for attachment to a shirt pocket.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 60/755,076, filed Jan. 3, 2006.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an electric motor driven rotarytoothbrush with separate toothpaste and battery compartments in thehandle.

2. Description of the Related Art

Numerous designs of electric and battery-powered toothbrushes exist inthe marketplace. Many electric toothbrushes have rotary brush headsattached to a neck that is removable from the handle, i.e., body of thetoothbrush. However, to date, it is difficult to find an electrictoothbrush having separate compartments to store toothpaste andbatteries for operation.

Thus, an electric toothbrush with separate toothpaste and batterycompartments solving the aforementioned problems is desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The electric toothbrush with separate toothpaste and batterycompartments is a device comprised of a housing defining a handle with ahollow interior having space in the front for a DC motor and twocompartments disposed in-line and longitudinally to the rear of the DCmotor. The DC motor has a rotor coupling disposed along a longitudinalaxis of the electric toothbrush. The rotor coupling is operativelyconnected to the motor to receive an axially rotatable drive shaftdisposed inside of a removable neck having an independently removablerotary brush. The forward compartment houses two batteries provided forpowering the DC motor. The aft compartment has sufficient space for, andis used to store a tube of toothpaste. Each compartment has a separatehinged door with a snap lock for secure compartment closure. The angledremovable neck includes a drive shaft, body engagement member, and gearassembly to provide power to the rotary brush head when the neck isattached to the handle body. When not in use, the toothbrush is shieldedfrom germs by a brush head cap with pocket clip for attachment to ashirt pocket.

These and other features of the present invention will become readilyapparent upon further review of the following specification anddrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an environmental, perspective view of the electric toothbrushwith separate toothpaste and battery compartments according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded, perspective view of the electric toothbrush withseparate toothpaste and battery compartments according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the electric toothbrush with separatetoothpaste and battery compartments according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a partially exploded, perspective cutaway view of the electrictoothbrush according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the protective brush head cap onthe electric toothbrush with separate toothpaste and batterycompartments according to the present invention.

Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistentlythroughout the attached drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the present invention is an electrictoothbrush 5 comprised of a housing 15 defining a handle with a hollowinterior space having a front section 11 for a DC motor 26 and twocompartments 16 and 8 disposed longitudinally in-line and to the rear ofthe DC motor 26. The DC motor 26 has a rotor coupling 27 disposed alonga longitudinal axis of the electric toothbrush 5.

As shown in FIG. 2, the rotor coupling 27 is operatively connected tothe motor 26 to receive a rotatable drive shaft 30 disposed inside of aremovable neck 19 having an independently removable rotary brush head21. Note that rotatable drive shaft 30 has a notch 32 at the end of thedrive shaft provided for engaging the blade shaped rotor coupling 27.

The forward compartment 16 houses a plurality of batteries 80 providedfor powering the DC motor 26. As shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, opposingforward compartment 16, and disposed on an outside surface of housing 15is a, preferably sliding, power switch 70 which is connected to themotor 26 and batteries 80 to control power to the toothbrush 5.

The aft compartment 8, being disposed at a longitudinally distal end 7of the toothbrush 5, has sufficient space for, and is used to store atube of toothpaste T. Aft compartment 8 has a separate, preferablyarcuate, compartment door 10 that is pivotally attached to the housing15 by hinges 12. The door 10 has a snap latch 14 that removably engagesa latch keeper 25 for secure compartment closure.

Similarly, forward battery compartment 16 has a separate, preferablyarcuate, compartment door 20, which is pivotally attached to the housing15 by hinges 22. The battery compartment door 20 has a snap latch 24that removably engages a latch keeper 25 for secure compartment closure.

As shown in FIG. 4, the preferably angled, removable neck 19 whichincludes the drive shaft 30, also includes a ring-like housingengagement member 51 having a plurality of radially extending engagementtabs 52, and gear assembly 40 and 50 to provide power, i.e., torquetransmission of the motor 26 to the drive shaft 30 and to the rotarybrush head 21 when the neck 19 is attached to the handle body, i.e.,housing 15.

The housing engagement member 51 is disposed about the circumference ofa longitudinally distal end of the neck 19. The housing 15 has disposedwithin a front section 11 a plurality of engagement slots 54 forreceiving the engagement tabs 52 to removably twist lock the neck 19 inplace so that the drive shaft 30 is properly engaged with the rotorcoupling 27.

Additionally, the drive shaft 30 is canted from the longitudinal axis ofthe tooth brush housing 15 so that worm gear 40 may directly engagerotary gear 50 thereby converting torque 90° to provide aperpendicularly disposed rotational torque for driving the rotary brushhead 21 without the use of an intervening gear train. The canted driveshaft 30 advantageously provides for a rotary bristle 21 dispositionthat is substantially radially in-line with the longitudinal axis of thetoothbrush housing 15.

Rotary gear 50 includes an axle that connects the rotary gear 50 tobristle platform 56. The bristle platform 56 has a plurality of holesfor receiving in a compression fitting, the pronged toothbrush head 21.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 5, it is shown that when not in use, thetoothbrush 5 may be shielded from germs by a removably attachableprotective pocket clip equipped brush head cap 60 that additionallyfacilitates fastening of the toothbrush 5 to a shirt pocket, pantpocket, or the like for easy transportation of the toothbrush 5.

It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to theembodiment described above, but encompasses any and all embodimentswithin the scope of the following claims.

1. An electric toothbrush comprising: a housing having a hollow interiorprovided for housing a DC motor and having two compartmentslongitudinally in-line and to the rear of the DC motor, the housingdefining a handle, a first compartment of the two compartments in thehousing being at a longitudinally distal end of the toothbrush andhaving sufficient space to contain a tube of toothpaste, the firstcompartment having at least one hinge and a first arcuate compartmentdoor attached to the hinge, the first arcuate compartment door having asnap latch disposed at an end opposite the hinge for removably lockingthe first door over the first compartment, a second compartment of thetwo compartments in the housing being disposed longitudinally in-line tothe first compartment, the second compartment having at least one hingeand a second arcuate compartment door attached to the door, the secondarcuate compartment door having a snap latch disposed at an end oppositethe hinge for removably locking the second door over the secondcompartment; a DC motor having a rotor coupling disposed along alongitudinal axis of the electric toothbrush, the rotor coupling beingoperatively connected to the motor; a neck and brush head assemblyattached to the housing having a neck and a rotary brush removablyconnected to the neck, the neck and brush head assembly having aring-like engagement member disposed about the circumference of alongitudinally distal end of the neck, the engagement member including aplurality of tabs extending radially from the engagement member so thatthe handle may receive the tabs thereby removably locking the neck andbrush head assembly in place; a drive shaft disposed inside the neck andhead assembly and connected to the rotor coupling so that the driveshaft is engaged with the rotor coupling for torque transmission of themotor to the drive shaft, the brush head having a 90° torque converterfor converting the axial torque in the drive shaft to a perpendicularlydisposed rotational torque to drive the removable rotary brush;batteries disposed in the second compartment; and a power switchelectrically connected between the batteries and the DC motor forpowering up the electric toothbrush, the power switch being disposedalong a side of the housing.
 2. The electric toothbrush according toclaim 1, further comprising a removably attachable protective brush headcap removably attached over the neck and brush head assembly forshielding the toothbrush from germs.
 3. The electric toothbrushaccording to claim 2, wherein the brush head cap includes a pocket clipcapable of clipping the toothbrush to a pocket in order to fasten thetoothbrush to a shirt pocket for easy transportation of the toothbrush.4. The electric toothbrush according to claim 1, wherein the drive shafthas a notch defined therein fitting over the rotor coupling to securethe drive shaft engagement with the rotor coupling.
 5. The electrictoothbrush according to claim 1, wherein the removable rotary brush isindependently removable from the removably locking neck.
 6. The electrictoothbrush according to claim 1, wherein the 90° torque convertercomprises a worm gear and a rotary gear engaging the worm gear.
 7. Theelectric toothbrush according to claim 1, wherein the first compartmenthas at least one latch keeper releasably engaging the snap latch of thefirst arcuate compartment door.
 8. The electric toothbrush according toclaim 1, wherein the second compartment has at least one latch keeperreleasably engaging the snap latch of the second arcuate compartmentdoor.
 9. The electric toothbrush according to claim 1, wherein the 90°torque converter comprises a worm gear and a rotary gear engaging theworm gear, the neck assembly being angled away from the longitudinalaxis of the toothbrush housing.
 10. The electric toothbrush according toclaim 9, wherein the drive shaft is canted from a longitudinal axis ofthe tooth brush housing so that worm gear directly engages the rotarygear.
 11. The electric toothbrush according to claim 10, wherein therotary brush is disposed substantially radially in-line with thelongitudinal axis of the toothbrush housing.
 12. The electric toothbrushaccording to claim 11, wherein the rotary brush has a platform, therotary gear including an axle connecting the rotary gear to theplatform.
 13. The electric toothbrush according to claim 12, wherein therotary brush platform has a plurality of holes defined therein, therotary brush having a brush head having prongs engaging the holes in theplatform for attaching the head to the platform.